Thursday, August 2, 2012

In Kansas, the Battle Boils Down to One Simple Reality - It's the Parasites vs Producers #ksleg

When it come to political power in Kansas you can forget the whole moderate versus conservative meme. What the conflict really boils down to is the parasites versus the producers.

On one side you have the parasites. These are the government employee unions, the gambling industry, and the contractors/construction unions. What all of these groups have in common is that make their living off the government.

The government employee unions, like the KNEA and public employee unions, are funded directly through taxpayer dollars. The casino and dog track groups, like the Kansas Star Casino PAC and Phil Ruffin/Kansas Wins PAC, enjoy special rights and privileges granted to them by the government that allows them to swindle money from people through games of chance that heavily favor their companies. The contractors and the construction unions, like the Kansas Contractors Association, enjoy the lucrative benefits of participating in completely taxpayer funded or heavily subsidized projects.

On the other side of the battle are the producers, the people and private businesses. This group has one major PAC behind them, the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, which is largely funded by Koch Industries. However, the influence the Chamber and Koch brothers wield is far less than their counterparts.

When you compare the two sides during the 2012 election cycle on the issue of money, the parasites are out-raising and outspending the producers by more than 10 to 1.

Fortunately for the producers, it appears it takes a lot more than money these days to win elections, otherwise conservatives would not control the state house, the governorship, and most state-level elected offices. And for now at least, there are a lot more producers than parasites.